• About us
  • Columnists
  • Careers
  • Brand Partnerships
  • rightlog is now TFIPOST
TFI Official Merchandise
हिन्दी
Saturday, May 21, 2022
TFIPOST
  • Politics
    • All
    • Analysis
    • Opinions
    • Trending
    Rahul Gandhi did what an opportunist politician would do, but India cannot let Cambridge go unpunished

    Rahul Gandhi did what an opportunist politician would do, but India cannot let Cambridge go unpunished

    Turks want “Pervert Pakistanis” to leave their country immediately

    Turks want “Pervert Pakistanis” to leave their country immediately

    In a country with IITian CMs, a saffron-clad Yogi is leading the digital revolution of India’s legislature

    In a country with IITian CMs, a saffron-clad Yogi is leading the digital revolution of India’s legislature

    Akhilesh loses his Hindu votes forever with one extremely anti-Hindu statement

    Akhilesh loses his Hindu votes forever with one extremely anti-Hindu statement

    • Analysis
    • Opinions
    • Trending
  • Economy
    • All
    • Business
    • Economy1
    • Finance
    green energy

    With gasification of coal, India takes a step ahead towards clean energy

    Adani

    Gautam Adani comes across as a compulsive, obsessive shopaholic

    Vistara and Air India

    Time for a bold prediction – TATA will merge Vistara and Air India

    They kept abusing Adani until one day Adani bought them, A Quint Saga

    They kept abusing Adani until one day Adani bought them, A Quint Saga

    • Business
    • Finance
  • Defense
    • All
    • Defence
    • Strategy
    • Weaponry
    Global Air Powers Rankings

    India beats China in Global Air Power Ranking 2022

    Sham no Varunah: India begins its total dominance in the seas

    Sham no Varunah: India begins its total dominance in the seas

    A comprehensive list of weapons India manufactured and procured in the last 24 months

    A comprehensive list of weapons India manufactured and procured in the last 24 months

    Ajit Doval warning

    Ajit Doval makes it clear that Balakot and surgical strikes are only the beginning

    • Defence
    • Strategy
    • Weaponry
  • Geopolitics
    • All
    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Europe
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
    FY Exports

    From curing the world to feeding it: PM Modi’s India is leading the world by example

    There could be many poles in the new world order but India is definitely the centre of it

    There could be many poles in the new world order but India is definitely the centre of it

    Necklace of Diamonds

    How India’s ‘Necklace of Diamonds’ outsmarted China’s ‘String of Pearls’ in the Indian Ocean

    OIC Pakistan

    Indian Foreign Ministry rips into Pak and its Arabian masters for bad-mouthing delimitation in J&K

    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Europe
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
  • Knowledge
    • All
    • Culture
    • History
    • Indology
    seven-day week

    24 hours, 1440 minutes, 86400 seconds: How Aryabhatta derived it and the West appropriated it

    Qutub Minar observatory

    Was Qutub Minar Raja Vikramaditya’s celestial observatory?

    The most important reason why CM Yogi won’t rename Lucknow

    The most important reason why CM Yogi won’t rename Lucknow

    Intermittent Fasting

    The West is repackaging and selling Vrata/Upwaas as “Intermittent Fasting”

    • Culture
    • History
    • Indology
  • Lounge
    • All
    • Books
    • Cinema
    • Food
    • Health
    • Lifestyle
    • Satire
    • Sports
    • technology
    • Travel
    Monkeypox: The new potential pandemic that humanity faces

    Monkeypox: The new potential pandemic that humanity faces

    Anand movie poster

    Some masterpieces must not be touched, and Anand is one of them

    ‘Dhaakad’ Kangana is now a fan of ‘Dabangg’ Salman

    ‘Dhaakad’ Kangana is now a fan of ‘Dabangg’ Salman

    actor nawaz

    Happy Birthday to Nawazuddin Siddique: The most overrated actor of recent times

    • Books
    • Cinema
    • Food
    • Health
    • Sports
    • technology
    • Travel
    • Satire
No Result
View All Result
TFIPOST
  • Politics
    • All
    • Analysis
    • Opinions
    • Trending
    Rahul Gandhi did what an opportunist politician would do, but India cannot let Cambridge go unpunished

    Rahul Gandhi did what an opportunist politician would do, but India cannot let Cambridge go unpunished

    Turks want “Pervert Pakistanis” to leave their country immediately

    Turks want “Pervert Pakistanis” to leave their country immediately

    In a country with IITian CMs, a saffron-clad Yogi is leading the digital revolution of India’s legislature

    In a country with IITian CMs, a saffron-clad Yogi is leading the digital revolution of India’s legislature

    Akhilesh loses his Hindu votes forever with one extremely anti-Hindu statement

    Akhilesh loses his Hindu votes forever with one extremely anti-Hindu statement

    • Analysis
    • Opinions
    • Trending
  • Economy
    • All
    • Business
    • Economy1
    • Finance
    green energy

    With gasification of coal, India takes a step ahead towards clean energy

    Adani

    Gautam Adani comes across as a compulsive, obsessive shopaholic

    Vistara and Air India

    Time for a bold prediction – TATA will merge Vistara and Air India

    They kept abusing Adani until one day Adani bought them, A Quint Saga

    They kept abusing Adani until one day Adani bought them, A Quint Saga

    • Business
    • Finance
  • Defense
    • All
    • Defence
    • Strategy
    • Weaponry
    Global Air Powers Rankings

    India beats China in Global Air Power Ranking 2022

    Sham no Varunah: India begins its total dominance in the seas

    Sham no Varunah: India begins its total dominance in the seas

    A comprehensive list of weapons India manufactured and procured in the last 24 months

    A comprehensive list of weapons India manufactured and procured in the last 24 months

    Ajit Doval warning

    Ajit Doval makes it clear that Balakot and surgical strikes are only the beginning

    • Defence
    • Strategy
    • Weaponry
  • Geopolitics
    • All
    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Europe
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
    FY Exports

    From curing the world to feeding it: PM Modi’s India is leading the world by example

    There could be many poles in the new world order but India is definitely the centre of it

    There could be many poles in the new world order but India is definitely the centre of it

    Necklace of Diamonds

    How India’s ‘Necklace of Diamonds’ outsmarted China’s ‘String of Pearls’ in the Indian Ocean

    OIC Pakistan

    Indian Foreign Ministry rips into Pak and its Arabian masters for bad-mouthing delimitation in J&K

    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Europe
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
  • Knowledge
    • All
    • Culture
    • History
    • Indology
    seven-day week

    24 hours, 1440 minutes, 86400 seconds: How Aryabhatta derived it and the West appropriated it

    Qutub Minar observatory

    Was Qutub Minar Raja Vikramaditya’s celestial observatory?

    The most important reason why CM Yogi won’t rename Lucknow

    The most important reason why CM Yogi won’t rename Lucknow

    Intermittent Fasting

    The West is repackaging and selling Vrata/Upwaas as “Intermittent Fasting”

    • Culture
    • History
    • Indology
  • Lounge
    • All
    • Books
    • Cinema
    • Food
    • Health
    • Lifestyle
    • Satire
    • Sports
    • technology
    • Travel
    Monkeypox: The new potential pandemic that humanity faces

    Monkeypox: The new potential pandemic that humanity faces

    Anand movie poster

    Some masterpieces must not be touched, and Anand is one of them

    ‘Dhaakad’ Kangana is now a fan of ‘Dabangg’ Salman

    ‘Dhaakad’ Kangana is now a fan of ‘Dabangg’ Salman

    actor nawaz

    Happy Birthday to Nawazuddin Siddique: The most overrated actor of recent times

    • Books
    • Cinema
    • Food
    • Health
    • Sports
    • technology
    • Travel
    • Satire
No Result
View All Result
TFIPOST
No Result
View All Result

The Arctic is heating up with China-Russia rivalry and China’s polar silk road will be the collision point

China is preparing to challenge Russia

Akshay Narang
by Akshay Narang
13 July 2020
in Opinions
0
russia china arctic ocean
3.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Of many effects that global warming is going to have on our planet, one could be the possibility of skirmishes and tussles between Moscow and Beijing. In the present scenario of the Indo-Pacific policy to contain China and painful sanctions of Russia from the West, the two authoritarian countries have stitched together an “axis of convenience”. But things could change as rising temperatures melt polar ice cap.

The climate change and global warming have opened up the Arctic to greater human activity. Commercial shipping lanes and exploitation of natural resources from this region could become a reality earlier than expected. This is where China and Russia are at odds with each other.

Russian and Chinese views on the Arctic sharply militate against each other. Russia is a natural Arctic power. The northern country occupies almost the entire territory to the North of Eurasia except the Scandinavian countries. It shares the longest coastline with the Arctic Ocean.

Kremlin still believes that Arctic is its “privileged sphere of influence.” Russian authorities strongly assert the primacy of eight Arctic countries in the region. Moscow is not very keen on non-Arctic powers playing a dominant role in this part of the world.

At the top of Russia’s version of Arctic hierarchy are the five Arctic Ocean coastal countries- Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia, and the United States. Russia believes that this is in line with the international maritime law as the five countries have direct access to the Arctic Ocean, and have Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). They are followed by the three permanent members of the Arctic Council- Finland, Iceland, and Sweden.

For Russia, the interests of other countries including the observer nations such as France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom in Europe, and India, Japan, South Korea and even China in Asia are at the bottom of Russian hierarchy. This is where Chinese views differ, and differ sharply.

China wants to claim that Arctic is a part of the global commons, much like Antartica. China is negating Russian sovereignty over Moscow’s vast territorial waters in the Arctic Ocean which will become a prolific commercial hub in a distant future. In fact, by claiming that Arctic is a common future for the human race, Beijing is conceiving a new world order in which it will set the norms as a global superpower.

In 2018, the Dragon went a step further. Beijing disclosed its Arctic ambitions which raised fears of a Chinese takeover of the Arctic. China identified itself as a “Near-Arctic State” in its White Paper. This is rather misleading given that China is as far away from the Arctic than Poland.

China had stated, “The Arctic situation now goes beyond its original inter-Arctic States or regional nature, having a vital bearing on the interests of States outside the region and the interests of the international community as a whole, as well as on the survival, the development, and the shared future for mankind.”

The White Paper had further added that countries should respect “the rights and freedom of non-Arctic States to carry out activities in this region in accordance with the law.”

Russia doesn’t like Chinese interference in the Arctic. In 2015, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had complained that non-Arctic States are using their military and economic power to “strive for greater roles in the Arctic,” in a veiled jibe at China.

The stakes are high. Russia looks at the melting Polar ice-cap as a clear opportunity to become a superior naval and maritime power that it could not become because of a disadvantageous geography in the post-Soviet era. China however wants to use the upcoming commercial and rich maritime zone to achieve its own geopolitical goals.

Currently, Russia has just one warm water naval base- Sevastopol. With a melting Arctic, Moscow will want many more ports and naval bases so that it can exert more influence in the global equations than before.

At a commercial level, Russia wants to develop a Northern Sea Route (NSR) along its Siberian coast. This will become an alternative to, and at least take away much of the traffic that passes through the Suez Canal. Moscow thus wants to become a pre-eminent Arctic power that connects Asia and Europe, and become an economic power in the process.

Not only the sea routes and naval bases, a melting Arctic is going to throw open the vast hydrocarbons that lay unexplored in the Arctic. The Arctic is estimated to contain 13 per cent of the world’s unexplored oil and around 30 per cent of undiscovered gas. This is a resource-rich region which Russia wants to use as a “strategic resource base”.

For a country like Russia that is highly dependent on hydrocarbons-extraction, the importance of the resource-rich region cannot be overemphasised.

China however plays spoilsport. Beijing already has its own moniker for the Northern Sea Route (NSR), the ‘Polar Silk Road’. China wants to make the upcoming Arctic sea route a part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project. There is no doubt that Beijing will use its economic heft to become the dominant player in the Arctic.

For China too, the stakes are high. The Arctic Sea route or the Polar Silk Road as China calls it is Beijing’s strategy to avoid the Malacca dilemma. The Strait of Malacca is a narrow choke point that divides the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In event of a conflict, India can easily block this narrow passage and deprive China of its oil imports from the Middle East apart from closing the trading routes of the exports-based economy.

(Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/hisutton/2020/07/08/could-the-indian-navy-strangle-chinas-lifeline-in-the-malacca-strait/#35e8220178e8)

With the new shipping routes opening up due to global warming China can fulfil its Blue-Water navy ambitions. And not just shipping routes, China also wants to become the country that builds ports and other infrastructure in Nordic-Baltic countries like Finland and Denmark, ultimately making them a part of the BRI.

And we know how invasive BRI can be. China is also the biggest importer of hydrocarbons and in a distant future, it will want to reduce energy dependence by tapping into the Arctic.

This is however going to clash with Russian interests and open up the Arctic to more conflicts. Behind all the camaraderie that Russia and China seem to share, there could be a lot of distrust and tensions between the two Red countries that could play up as quickly as the Polar ice in the Arctic melts.

Tags: Arctic OceanChinaRussia
Share288TweetSend
Previous Post

Pakistan has been sent a message by US and the world: Stop siding with China or prepare to go extinct

Next Post

‘Why are the three Khans silent?’ Subramanian Swamy takes up Sushant’s case, calls for investigation on Bollywood

Akshay Narang

Akshay Narang

Patriot, Political Analyst, Amateur Historian

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms of use and Privacy Policy.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

  • Most Read
  • Comments
  • Latest
Xi Jinping, coronavirus, Shinzo Abe, china, Japan, coornavirus, COVID-19, Wuhan Virus

‘Pack up and get out of there,’ Japan to spend $2.2 billion to get Japanese companies to exit China

9 April 2020
ajay devgn karan johar

The man who bullied the Bully – How Ajay Devgn made Karan Johar’s monopoly a joke and forced him to apologize

22 June 2020
Huawei, China, Trump, USA, Xi Jinping

‘Our survival is at stake now,’ Chinese Telecom giant Huawei crumbles after US ban on Semiconductor exports

19 May 2020
T-Series Sonu Nigam Divya Khosla Kumar Bhushan Kumar

T-Series forced to take down Atif Aslam’s video, Divya Khosla trolled. T-Series has a bad day in office

25 June 2020
Meat Ban

A Jain responds to Meat Ban in Mumbai

Public Sector Bank, Government, Bill

Dear bank employees, continue your stride but PSBs will be privatized

anti-Hindi

Anti-Hindi Forever?- In search of a National Language!

Dear Liberals – your Beef Parties are not protests, they just intend to displease the Majority

Dear Liberals – your Beef Parties are not protests, they just intend to displease the Majority

Monkeypox: The new potential pandemic that humanity faces

Monkeypox: The new potential pandemic that humanity faces

21 May 2022
Rahul Gandhi did what an opportunist politician would do, but India cannot let Cambridge go unpunished

Rahul Gandhi did what an opportunist politician would do, but India cannot let Cambridge go unpunished

21 May 2022
Turks want “Pervert Pakistanis” to leave their country immediately

Turks want “Pervert Pakistanis” to leave their country immediately

21 May 2022
In a country with IITian CMs, a saffron-clad Yogi is leading the digital revolution of India’s legislature

In a country with IITian CMs, a saffron-clad Yogi is leading the digital revolution of India’s legislature

21 May 2022

Popular This Week

5 Actors who would have looked better as Prithviraj Chauhan than Akshay Kumar
Cinema

5 Actors who would have looked better as Prithviraj Chauhan than Akshay Kumar

by Tanya Trivedi
17 May 2022
reliance brands
Trending

Mukesh Ambani is out to challenge Pepsi and Coca-Cola

by Rahul Gupta
17 May 2022
They kept abusing Adani until one day Adani bought them, A Quint Saga
Business

They kept abusing Adani until one day Adani bought them, A Quint Saga

by Abhishek Kumar Singh
16 May 2022
Vistara and Air India
Business

Time for a bold prediction – TATA will merge Vistara and Air India

by Abhishek Kumar Singh
17 May 2022
Kerala crisis
Trending

Kerala government goes bankrupt

by TFIPOST News Desk
14 May 2022

©2022 TFI Media Private Limited

  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
No Result
View All Result
  • Politics
    • Analysis
    • Opinions
    • Trending
  • Economy
    • Business
    • Finance
  • Defense
    • Defence
    • Strategy
    • Weaponry
  • Geopolitics
    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Europe
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
  • Knowledge
    • Culture
    • History
    • Indology
  • Lounge
    • Books
    • Cinema
    • Food
    • Health
    • Sports
    • technology
    • Travel
    • Satire
TFI Official Merchandise
हिन्दी
  • About us
  • Columnists
  • Careers
  • Brand Partnerships
  • rightlog is now TFIPOST

©2022 TFI Media Private Limited

Follow us on Twitter

and never miss an insightful take by the TFIPOST team

Follow @tfipost